Red Rubber Ball: Redux
by Salzarrotta
Summary: Sometimes, the best way to fix a broken heart is another's broken heart. Because the pieces left over has a funny way of fitting together. A remake of an old fic of mine, and completely different from the original in terms of storyline, but still Sonouge.


Disclaimer: Sonic and co. don't belong to me. They belong to the dudes and dudettes at SEGA.

Author: Decided to redo it. I wrote this originally as something to keep my mind off "Unlikely Bonds" due to writer's block. The title came from this song that Stephen Colbert said while talking to this guy about his album called "Lyrics". I never heard the song before, and I thought the song was about looking on the bright side or something. But after actually hearing the song and listening to the lyrics, I was surprised that the song was about break up and finding someone new! Quite a shock on my part since thats how I wrote this story before. So, in honor of my shock -yes my shock- I decided to redo it. Hope you guys like it!

Brief Note:

"__" indicates a character's speech

*__* indicates that the character is speaking through thought

(__) indicates an action between a speech or thought

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Red Rubber Ball: Redux

by Sol

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- 3 weeks ago... -

Hey Knuckles...

Hey Sonic. What's up? You look a little down?

Yeah... It's about Amy...

What about her?

Well, you know how possessive she is about me right?

Yeah?

Don't get me wrong. I like her, and she's my girlfriend. But lately... she's kinda getting on my nerves.

Can't stop bugging ya huh.

Yeah. Listen. Do you think you can do me a favor?

Sure.

Do you think maybe you can hang out with her for a while? You know, get her out of my hair so I can have some ME time.

What!?

Come on Knuckles... Just keep her pre-occupied for a couple of weeks.

But... what about Rouge...

I'm sure she'll be fine. She's always busy with other things. I mean, when was the last time you two were on a date?

I guess you're right... Fine. I'll hang with Amy for a while...

Thanks Knuckles!

But how will Amy feel about this?

Just don't tell her I said so. Besides, It's not like she'll leave me for you right?

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- Present -

*How I regret having said that... maybe I jinxed myself when I said those last words... (sigh)...*

Sonic was walking around Emerald Beach contemplating about his mistake... He asked his best friend to hang out with his girlfriend so he could have some alone time...

He just never expected his alone time to be permanent...

After Amy hung out with Knuckles, she openly admitted that she liked the echidna more than him... and when she approached Sonic about it, she broke it to him like a two year old child and its toy... destroyed without mercy... it was one of the most painful things that Sonic had to go through. Even more painful then being beat up by Perfect Chaos all over again...

Luckily, Knuckles was more... gentle. Which was surprising coming from him. Guess it was a best friend thing. But for some reason, the whole thing opened Sonic's eyes to something... after everything that has happened, he had to admit... he wasn't exactly a good boyfriend to Amy...

He would always dodge her and escape her whenever she was around. And often times he would ignore her... but she always stayed loyal and never gave up. She was such a nice person, a little weird, but still nice...

He didn't really like her at first. She was just another fan girl to him back then. She would always follow him where ever he went no matter the dangers. And he'd end up saving her life, which prompts her to always ask him to marry her even though she was 3-4 years younger than him...

After enduring her constant annoying tendencies though, he eventually grew fond of her... to the point that he admitted that he liked her...

And after finally accepting Amy's love... this happens...

He sighed again as he walked around the shoreline thinking about what he could have done to have prevented this...

*Maybe I should have been a better boyfriend... maybe I should have given her more attention... maybe I shouldn't have left her alone with Knuckles...* He thought, depressingly. Dragging his feet along the sand...

But as he continued to think of his loss, he quickly shook it away. He couldn't blame his best friend... it wasn't his fault... He has to accept the fact that Amy was gone... Even though he didn't like it...

"That's the way the ball bounces..." He said out loud as he kicked a shell on the sand and into the water. He stopped for a minute as he looked at the sea...

He remembered when he first met Amy... He remembered meeting her on the Little Planet, and how she instantly fell in love with him... He wished that he did the same thing back then... He thought about her more, remembering the times and things that he liked about her. But honestly, the one thing Sonic really liked about her was her smile... her smile always had this cute sparkle in them that would brighten his day no matter what. Though he never admitted it to her or anyone...

But now, that smile belongs to Knuckles... not him...

He sighed, probably for the hundredth time this day... he just couldn't take his mind off of her... he then looked up at the sky, seeing the sun slowly setting as the evening slowly rolled in... he looked at the sea, rolling as well... in and out... it just endlessly rolled, and it has been since the dawn of time. Its waves were beautiful, as the sun's twilight rays reflected off its surface, creating an orange pool of tiny stars... and seeing those stars made him remember Amy once again...

Her eyes reflected the same light whenever he saw them... another thing that he liked about her... and something he didn't realize that he liked about her till now... now that she was gone... it seems that everything tonight reminded him of her... could nature have been anymore annoying...

"The sea looks so beautiful this evening..." He said as he continued to watch the water flow so slowly on the beach.

"Yeah... It sure does..." A sudden voice said from behind him. His eyes went wide with surprise, not thinking that anyone would be here at this time of day. Especially since he watched everyone leave earlier... Sonic slowly, and rather dramatically, turned to see who it was the voice came from.

Behind him, sitting on the sand a few feet away was Rouge... Knuckles' now ex-girlfriend...

"Hey Rouge." He greeted politely as he looked at the bat girl.

"Hey yourself blue boy." She responded giving him a sultry smile. But the smile disappeared just as fast as it appeared. Replaced with a saddened expression that even a cast of gothes could not compare to...

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why Rouge looked depressed. Knuckles was with Amy now, so it's pretty clear that he dumped her. But by the way Rouge looked, Sonic thinks that she must've received a much more harsher treatment then he did... or maybe she took it more harshly... either way, she just looked sad...

And he too felt sad... seeing her like that... I mean, he could completely relate to how she was feeling... heart-broken... lost without a guiding light... wishing perhaps... wait... he was depressing himself again...

He shook his head as nonchalantly as he could and focused on Rouge... Feeling that it's his duty to help those in need, he walked over to the bat to try and comfort her. He sat beside her, a few inches away so as to respect her personal space, and looked at her with his trademark smirk.

"So, didn't take it as easy as I did huh?" Sonic said softly so as to not say anything hurtful, but still saying it in his usual tone of voice.

"What makes you say I didn't take it easy?" Rouge said un-caringly without looking away from the sea.

"Just a guess." Sonic said, shrugging as he did so.

"What about you?" Rouge asked leaning forward and placing her elbows to her knees and resting her chin on her knuckles.

Sonic didn't say anything and laid down on the sand with his hands behind his head as he stared at the sky. Quite a question to ask, and not a subject he could casually talk about. Quite a painful memory to explain... Rouge chuckled at his silence.

"Don't act so strong." She said. "It's okay to feel sad, Sonic."

"That obvious?"

"Like I'm any better?" She said jokingly, and they both chuckled.

"So... how did they break it to you..." She asked, ceasing her chuckling, Sonic following shortly. "Don't worry blue boy, I won't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?"

"How sad you feel about Amy leaving you for Knuckles."

That hurt a little... something he was trying to avoid doing to her... but he sucked it up.

"Okay... well, Amy broke it to me real hard... and I mean REAL hard... so-."

"What about Knuckles?" She asked quickly, a tone of interest in her voice, not allowing Sonic a chance to explain further. Sonic paused a little as he took his mind off Amy and worked his mind into thinking on whether telling Rouge about how Knuckles broke it to him was wise...

"He was a little gentler..." He said, deciding to tell her... "Which surprised me a bit-"

"Really? Lucky you." She said forcefully and cutting him off, now having an angry tone. She thought of the red echidna, and then she began feeling really angry. How could he do that to her? How could he just leave her like that for that... that... whore!

*Amy...* She thought angrily of the pink hedgehog. She wanted to kill her. How dare she take her man from her! But as she did, the memory of that heart-breaking event once again played out in her mind. She remembered how fiercely they both ganged up on her, and then Knuckles... Knuckles... her memory blurred, she couldn't let that painful memory go any further...

"What's wrong? Rouge?" Sonic asked worriedly as he watched her look so angry and seemingly trembling.

"Nothing... its just... just..." She sounded like she was about to cry... which was something she rarely does.

For as long as memory serves him, Sonic has never seen her cry... nor saddened this extremely before... she must have loved Knuckles a lot... and she probably got hurt pretty bad by the way the two broke it to her... he needed to calm her down before she does anything she might regret...

"Rouge, tell me whats wrong?" He asked, sitting up now and placed his hand on her shoulder. The contact mixed with the question itself triggered something inside Rouge, something both painful and angering.

"Whats wrong? Whats wrong! Its that whore Amy, and that two-timing son-of-a-bitch Knuckles! That's whats wrong!" She screamed, turning towards Sonic with her face covered in tears...

"Rouge... please, calm down..." He said as gently as he could, his eyebrows drooping down sympatheticly as he rubbed her shoulder. But she didn't take the gesture quite well...

"Calm down? Calm DOWN!? How am I supposed to calm (sob) DOWN! I just had my heart-broken in pieces! (sob) How am I supposed to calm DOWN!?"

"Please-"

"NO!! Leave me alone! Its because of your so-called girlfriend that me and Knuckles broke apart!! So stop sympathizing with me, because you have no idea how I feel!" Rouge screamed at the top of her lungs towards the blue hedgehog.

Hearing this, Sonic furrowed his eyebrows down in anger. He took his hand off her and looked down. Now that really hurt... and this time, he couldn't suck it up. Here he was trying his best to comfort her, and all she could do was keep shooting him down painfully...

"No Rouge... I definitely have NO idea how you feel..." He told her coldly, but his voice gave way a little, and a hurtful tone came out. He then stood up and stomped away.

Rouge watched him stomp away. Completely puzzled as to why. Her anger was clouding whatever sense she had at the moment. It took her a while to realize it and quite a bit of calming down, but when she did, she covered her mouth with a small gasp coming out...

"Oh no... Sonic wait!" She stood up clumsily, and chased after him...

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Sonic didn't run this time, he didn't feel like it... today was probably, no, officially the worst day of his life... it was bad enough Amy broke up with him, now Rouge was hurting his feelings after trying so hard to cheer her up... he's had enough for today, it was probably for the best if he went back home and sleep this day away. But as he continued his slow stroll back home, he heard footsteps following him...

"Sonic... (pant) please... wait..." Rouge cried out to him in a cracked voice.

Sonic ignored her, and continued to walk angrily. Speed walking now, trying to escape from her... Still thinking about how rude she was to him...

*How dare she... here I am trying to help and all she could do is act like a jerk! Dang... shouldn't have even-* But his train of thought was disturbed as Rouge caught up to him and took hold of his arm. His nostrils flared, and he forcefully pulled his arm off her grasp.

"Don't touch me...!" He said, half-angrily and half-sadly. Not even turning to face her.

"Please... I'm sorry... I-I d-didn't mean to-" Rouge stammered to speak. She never felt so scared and so worried over someone before... she felt weak kneed for the first time in her life as she looked at Sonic... why that was wasn't important right now. What was important to her right now was his forgiveness...

But Sonic wasn't feeling forgiving anymore...

"Didn't mean to what? Shrug off my friendly gestures and completely hurt me?" He said, no longer able to hold in his hurt as a few tears trickled down his face. And while Rouge tried to hold his arm again, she stopped mid-way. Because looking at his arm, she saw it trembling... but not out of anger, no... but out of sadness... and this fueled Rouge's guilt to completely cover her thoughts...

How could she act so angrily like that... and to Sonic of all people, he was only trying to help... Rouge felt the same way Sonic felt right now... today was also, officially the worst day of her life... but as bad as it was, there was someone who took the time to try and help her... and what did she do? Act like a complete jerk...

"No... it's not that... I was just..." She couldn't find anything to say to Sonic... not that anything she said at this point would seem okay... but she didn't want him to leave...

"Just what? Heart-broken? Lost? Yeah, I know. But at least you could've been more sensitive of MY feelings!" He said, his voice cracking near the end and his fists shaking while he clenched them... and after that, he completely teared up... and muffled sobbing came from him...

Rouge obviously heard his sobs, which didn't exactly help her guilt-trip... now she really hated herself over the whole thing...

"Oh Sonic... I'm really sorry..." She didn't know what else to say or even do... and without really thinking about it, she hugged him... she didn't know what possessed her to do it, but she was doing it anyway. It was like her body just wanted to do so. Like it was just the right thing... the only thing she could do...

Sonic was completely shocked by the gesture. He couldn't move... he didn't know why, he just couldn't... this sudden gesture coming from Rouge was causing his body to stay still. It was strange. He was angry towards her, more so then anyone he had been angry towards before... but he couldn't shun her away... then he felt Rouge's head bury itself into the quills on his back and felt something wet run down his back...

*Tears?* Sonic thought, but didn't bother to ask the seemingly crying bat.

Whether it was that stupid hero reflex that did it, or probably because maybe he cared, he didn't know. But he couldn't leave her... even though his mind said so, he couldn't... his legs refused to comply...

"Will you stay?" Rouge asked between her sobbing.

"Of course..." He told her softly... and he smiled a little near the end...

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After a little while, the two stopped their sob-fest and found themselves seated beside each other on the sandy beach once again. Despite seemingly working out their little problems about the 'fight' they had earlier, neither found the right way to begin a conversation with the other after what just happend...

The two just sat there, silently. Yet, neither found anything wrong about it. And after a while, the two found comfort in just being in each other's company.

Eventually, the two lost whatever sad expression they had on their face. Replaced with a serene and content stare while they were both looking at the sea.

Soon, the sun had set, and it became night. The light from the nearby streetlights began to light up one-by-one along with the lights from the nearby houses. The lights however, did very little to illuminate the beach they were at. The only real light the two had was the moon. It wasn't strong, but it was enough.

Rouge couldn't help but feel that the whole moment seemed rather... romantic... the air around them just felt that way... and yes, Sonic felt the same about the whole thing...

Giving in to the mood, Rouge rested her head on Sonic's shoulder. Sonic didn't mind though, and let Rouge do what she wanted.

"Sonic?" Rouge asked in a relaxed tone.

"Yes, Rouge?" Sonic replied with the same tone, which made Rouge chuckle lightly.

"I'm glad you came by today..." The bat said, snuggling closer to the hedgehog. "I don't think I would've gotten over my sadness if it wasn't for you..."

"I'm sure it would've been the same even if I wasn't here. Your strong after all." Sonic said, and felt Rouge shaking her head on his shoulder.

"No. Your wrong. If you hadn't come to comfort me, I'd still be here... alone... sulking... and asking myself why this all happen..." Rouge said, and after hearing this, Sonic couldn't help but think deeply on her words, and realized, given the circumstances, he would've done the same...

"I think I would've done the same thing if you weren't here today..." Sonic said, which was replied with an even louder chuckle from the female bat.

"Am I hearing right? Sonic the hedgehog, sulking? (Chuckle) Not exactly your thing, is it?" Rouge told the blue hero playfully, which made Sonic chuckle as well.

"I could say the same thing about you, Rouge."

"(Giggle) Yeah, your right. Lets leave the brooding and sulking to Mr. Angst the hedgehog." Rouge said jokingly, which made Sonic laugh out loud.

"You mean, Shadow?" Sonic said, between his laughter.

"Yeah, I mean, when was the last time you didn't see him moping about that blond chick from ARK?"

"You mean, Maria?"

"Whatever. I don't like keeping tabs about other people's personal life." Rouge said, but paused as she felt a tinge of sadness hit her as she realized what she had just said...

"I guess that's why my relationship fell apart..." Rouge began, feeling saddened once again. "It's because I never paid attention to any of my friends lives... even Knuckles..." She continued, lifting her hand up and catching a tear that almost ran down her face.

"Don't say that Rouge..." Sonic said softly. "You know each and every one of us perfectly."

"I only know as much about every one of you from what I read on my GUN files... on a personal level... I know nothing..." Rouge explained, feeling another tear form behind her eye. "I'm just a complete stranger trying to pretend like I belong... and the sad part is; that each of you actually think that I belong with your group..." And with those words, the tear that was forming in her eye fell. But this time, it was Sonic who caught it.

Rouge turned to face him, a little surprised about what he had done. And she saw him smiling at her. It wasn't the usually Sonic smile that everyone knows... it was a different smile... that kind that you usually see when you genuinely care about someone...

"Rouge, I don't think you belong in our group. I KNOW you belong in our group. Because your not a stranger, your someone to us, someone important." Sonic told Rouge with as much sincerity that he could produce. Which didn't take that much effort, since Sonic never lies anyway. Rouge knew that of course, but still... the comment made Rouge feel better. No, she felt better than better. She felt great. Hearing those words coming from Sonic made Rouge realize something... no one, not even Knuckles, has ever told her that she was important in that way...

"I'm... important...?" She asked, a little hesitant and a little embarrassed.

"Of course you are!" Sonic exclaimed brightly. "We wouldn't be complete without you!"

Rouge listened, and then... she smiled... not her usual seductive or deceptive smile, a real smile. A genuine smile. And when Sonic saw this, his own smile widdened.

"Nice smile!" He said, bringing his left hand up, giving Rouge a thumb's up. The comment made Rouge blush a bit.

After giving her his thumb's up, Sonic thought of something.

"Say Rouge?"

"Y-yes, Sonic?" She replied, stammering a bit as she tried to hide her blush.

"Well, since you said that you don't exactly know each of us on a personal level, why not start now."

"What do you mean, Sonic?"

"Let's talk about you and me. You know, get to know each other better."

"Sure. Why not? If I'm gonna 'officially' make friends with everyone in the group, might as well start off with you."

"That's the spirit!" Sonic exclaimed excitedly. "Okay, I'll start. (Ahem) I was born in a log cabin..."

"Sonic, be serious!" Rouge said, nudging him while laughing at his obviously corny opening.

"I am serious!"

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As the night went by, the two just sat together, talking about themselves and their lives. From topics such as: Birthdays, likes and dislikes, hobbies, favorite foods, and even adventures. Sonic was surprised when it got to that particular topic. He never knew that Rouge has had a couple of adventures of her own outside of their group. Though he wasn't all that surprised when he learned that nearly all of Rouge's adventures involve stealing precious jewelry and other types of treasures.

Their conversation went on and on. Both never seemingly running out of things to talk about. Sonic paused the conversation as he took a glance over his watch, and was shocked when he found out about the time.

"It's 11:43..." Sonic began, and Rouge stopped talking enough to listen to what he was saying. "...we've been talking for five hours..."

"Really?" Rouge asked with a sarcastic tone, seemingly un-fazed by how late it was. "Golly! We'd better head home before Mama and Papa get angry!" Rouge continued, pulling a face and obviously teasing the hedgehog. Sonic for his part just laughed, and punched Rouge's arm playfully.

"Quit it! I was just saying that we missed dinner. That's all."

"That's okay. We'll just go out and find a late night food place somewhere over at my place." Rouge said, returning Sonic's playful punch earlier. Then the two just laughed warmly together.

After that, the two went silent. Neither knew why, they just lost a reason to continue to speak. It wasn't so much embarassment, rather it was just that... there was something building up inside them... they couldn't quite explain what it was... They just felt it, together... it was a feeling of... attraction towards each other... and because of this, the two found themselves drawing closer... and closer... both blushed deeply as they both pursed their lips, ready for what was to come...

Contact... the two touched lips. It started as just a simple kiss, till suddenly, lustful intentions got the better of them. And soon, the kiss turned more needful as the two demanded more from the other. The kiss deepened further, both falling down to the sand, Sonic on top of Rouge, as their lustful desires just went on. Then they both inserted their tongues, quite surprising that they caught each other's tongue tips on entry. But they could care less about that.

Their tongues twisted and turned, circling each other as they battled for dominance. Rouge's tongue fought far more fiercely then Sonic thought, and the bat's technique was overpowering him. He found himself close to losing, but a brief moment of inspiration came to Sonic.

*My speed...* He thought, and using his great speed on his tongue. Rouge couldn't keep up with Sonic's tongue as he turned the tables on her.

But neither of them cared who was dominating who. All they cared about was the kiss... and the pleasure it brought to them... And they just loved every minute of it. Even though it was just some blind lustful need that came out of nowhere, they didn't care... and even if it eventually lead to something more or not... they wouldn't mind... they just loved having this strange feeling of need from one another.

It was euphoric... the bliss they were receiving was dizzying. But the dizziness just fueled their need for more...

But as much as they loved it, their lungs couldn't hold up, and they had to break away for air. Both panting heavily, the haze of lust still present in their eyes.

"Wow... (pant) where did that (pant) come from...?" They both said in unison, not even breaking eye contact, and smiling broadly towards each other.

"Again...?" Rouge asked, wrapping her arms up around Sonic's neck. Sonic felt her arms around him, and somehow, it just mad him feel... but at the same time, it mad him feel sad...

"Rouge... you do realize that... I'm not doing this out of love... it's just... the heat of the moment... I'm sorry..." Sonic answered, looking away slightly as his smile wavered.

"I don't think so... Sonic..." Rouge said, bringing one of her hands down and caressed Sonic's cheek gently. Her soft touch making Sonic turn to face her. "I think there's more to this than just that... I really think... that you and I... we were meant to be..."

"D-do you really think so?" Sonic asked, unsure yet at the same time, a glimmer of hope and anticipation was on his mind.

"Yes..." Rouge said, reassuring the hedgehog as she leaned up to kiss him. Sonic loved it, just as much as the one from earlier... but Rouge broke away too quickly, leaving Sonic wanting more. "Are you willing to find out? Do you want to see this through the end?"

Sonic thought for a moment about it, but he denied whatever rational thought was left in him and just said: "I'm willing to go all the way."

Rouge smiled at his reply. "Good..." And then the two started making-out once again...

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As they made out on the beach together in the dead of night, Rouge and Sonic began thinking about their situations... not just about this sudden make-out session, but also about... their break-ups with the two people that they loved... and somehow, somewhere in the haze of lust that they were sharing... they thought perhaps, this wasn't just lust... as Rouge said earlier, maybe this was meant to be...

*Amy...* Sonic thought, as he continued to kiss Rouge passionately while rubbing one of her bare nipples. *A long time ago... I thought you were annoying... and I still do... but despite that, I grew fond of you... to the point that I thought I loved you... maybe... maybe it wasn't really love that made me decide to accept you... maybe... maybe it was because I felt sorry for you... I don't know... but somewhere along the way... I really thought that you and I... were destined together...*

Sonic paused briefly, opening open of his eyes slightly, as he looked at Rouge. *Rouge... it's because of you that I began to really doubt my love for Amy... it's because of this moment we're sharing that made me really reconsider what has happend today... the break up with Amy... I thought it was a punishment for how badly I've treated her... but now... I'm glad it happend... because if it hadn't... I wouldn't have met you...*

*Knuckles...* Rouge thought between the session she was having with Sonic. She was clawing at his back deeply and moaning loudly as Sonic stopped kissing her and started nibbling at her nipple. *Despite the pain you've caused me today... I want to thank you... I remember you saving my life once... that was why I thought I loved you... and I really tried my best to love you... how tragic that after all that, you yourself ended it... but somehow... I knew it would happen one way or another... it wasn't so much you, really... it's me...*

Rouge paused briefly, given the circumstances it was rather challenging to do so. But when she did, she opened one of her eyes slightlly, as she looked at Sonic. *Sonic... when Knuckles broke up with me, you tried so hard to cheer me up... I've never met anyone who cared as much as you did... and I'm really grateful... It would've been nice to have met you sooner... because right now... I really think that your the one... I've been looking for...*

And as the two continued on, they eventually made love to each other... passionately, and still lustfully... but as Rouge said earlier, there was more to it than that. And they knew what it was...

It was love... they didn't see it at first, but it was there... it came in the most unusual of things but it was still love all the same. The two of them never knew they would find love through heart-break. But they've already passed that. The worst was over now... and their two broken hearts, two incomplete halves became whole with each other's love...

And as the night went on, their love never ceased... but soon, the sandman brought them to slumber along with adoring dreams of the other... but of course, they didn't succumb to sleep without them telling each other the most important words that needed to be said...

"I love you..."

It was the last thing spoken between them... and the night went on. But soon, the morning sun will rise, and a new day will come... and the sun will shine brightly with them in the dawn...

Like a red rubber ball...

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The End


End file.
